My Korean-American Life

About two weeks ago, my younger child, Jen, came home holding a dessert that looked remarkably like chapssaltteok , the chewy Korean rice cake. She proudly exclaimed, “It’s the Dujjonku , the current craze in Korea!” “Dujjonku?” I murmured, staring at it   “Thick and Chewy Cookie!” Jen quartered it and offered me a piece. The exterior was as delightfully chewy as a rice cake, but the interior was a sweet jumble of crunchy cookies and melted chocolate. The extreme sweetness was a sharp blow, so intense it made my body shudder as if a shard of ice had pierced me. It was a visceral sensation that struck the very core of the brain. A few days later, my nephew, who lives with us and approaches cooking with genuine devotion, brought over several Dujjonku he had made with friends. I could not refuse a piece made by his own hand. Unlike the first, this was far less sweet, its crunch balanced perfectly with the chewy texture, leaving me wanting more. “How did you make it this delicious? It’...

  About a month ago, a friend of mine led me to this place after visiting a nearby fiber arts exhibit where my pieces were included. During the MLK long weekend, I went again with my husband as I liked that place’s vibe so much. Today, the Historic Savage Mill, once manufacturing cotton duck, has been repurposed into a space for art, commerce, and community. The looms are long gone, yet, the massive architecture remains—a heavy, brick-and-mortar. Walking inside this weathered brick mall of the Historic Savage Mill in Maryland, I felt a peculiar vibration in the air—a rhythmic ghost-clatter of history and ordinary life. A huge poster on a wall I faced and read: “In 1822, its first carding building was built using stones from the river bed of the Patuxent; the main product was cotton duck used primarily for sailcloth. B&O railway connection in 1835 brought a spur to the mill. In 1859, a new owner, William Henry Baldwin Jr bought this Savage Manufacturing Co with the land and fact...

  My nephew, a South Korean citizen, graduated in the US and started working under OPT in 2025. To help him to file his first US tax return soon, I prepared some instructions for him, and I'm sharing this for other international students in similar situations. First, you need to determine Your Tax Residency The first step is knowing if you are a Non-Resident Alien (NRA) or Resident Alien (RA). The 5-Year Rule: Most F-1 students are considered "exempt individuals" from the Substantial Presence Test for their first 5 calendar years in the U.S. Remember this rule is 5-Year Lifetime Cumulative, meaning gap years (in case you left for Korea to fulfil mandatory military service and return in two years) don't count, but prior years stay on your record. Example: If you entered the U.S. in 2022, 2026 is your 5th year. You are still an NRA. If 2026 is your 6th calendar year, you may have transitioned to "Resident Alien" status.  You do not count the number of days ...

  지난 몇 년간 한 한인교회의 설교문을 매주 받아 영어로 번역해오고 있다. 내가 참석하는 교회는 아니지만 작은 교회인지라 교인 중 봉사할 지원자가 없어 처음엔 지원자를 찾는 한 일 년간만 하게되리라 시작했다. 목사님이 내가 전에 언급한 AI를 활용한 번역방법을 물어와 설명자료를 만들며 혹 다른 교회나 작은 단체들에게도 도움이 되지 않을까 싶어 이곳에 공유한다. For the past several years, I have been receiving sermons from a Korean church each week and translating them into English. It is not a church I attend, but because it is a small congregation with no volunteers available among its members, I began the work thinking it would last only about a year, until someone else could be found. As the pastor asked this week about the AI-assisted translation method I had mentioned before, I prepared some explanatory materials—and, thinking that they might also be helpful to other churches or small organizations, I decided to share them here. 구글을 활용해 문서 번역하기 Google, Bing, ChatGPT 활용하기  (이 파일은 워싱턴문인회 회장으로 일하며 문인회를 위해 준비했던  것으로 구글 드라이브 활용법 등의 좀더 폭넓은 활용법을 배울 수 있다 Created during my time as president of the Korean Literary Society of Washing...

  Since my first sourdough bread a few weeks ago, I’ve made another sourdough on Christmas morning, and tried Sulppang (Korean-version sourdough) with my starter. Sulppang To make traditional Korean sulppang—steamed rice-wine bread gently lifted by fermentation—one usually begins with saeng makgeolli , unpasteurized rice wine still alive with wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria. The history of Sul-ppang is inextricably linked to the periods of hardship in mid-20th century Korea. During the post-war era and the lean years when rice was scarce, wheat flour provided by international aid became a staple. However, without the expensive commercial yeast used in Western bakeries, Korean mothers turned to Makgeolli. Because traditional Makgeolli (unfiltered rice wine) is a living beverage teeming with wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria, it served as a natural leavening agent. By mixing this spirited brew with flour and a pinch of salt and sugar, the dough would slowly swell and breathe....

  Today I visited the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) to see Grandma Moses: A Good Day’s Work exhibit . Anna Mary Robertson Moses (1860–1961), universally known as Grandma Moses , I learned today, was a beloved American folk artist who launched her celebrated career depicting idyllic rural scenes in a self-taught, vibrant style, becoming famous in her late 70s. Grandma Moses did not begin her illustrious painting career until she was nearly 80 years old. For decades, she was a farm wife, mother of ten, and meticulous embroiderer, using wool to create "worsted pictures." It was the arthritis in her hands, making the finer work of needlepoint too painful, that forced her to pivot to paint. This forced transition—a seemingly small adjustment in medium—unlocked her true genius. Her paintings quickly transitioned from being small, homemade gifts to major museum acquisitions, launched by a chance discovery in a Hoosick Falls, New York, drugstore window. She sold her first wo...

  A few days ago I got some sourdough bread starter—often called a "mother"— from my friend. My daughter has been waiting expectantly for my first sourdough all this week. Ever since I learned that sourdough, unlike standard bread which relies on store-bought packets of commercial yeast, rises through natural fermentation and harbors living bacteria good for health, I’ve always longed to learn how to make sourdough; finally I did it today. Sourdough is the oldest form of leavened bread in human history. Historians trace its origins back to Ancient Egypt around 1,500 BC. It was likely discovered by accident when a bowl of flour and water was left out, allowing wild yeast to settle in and ferment the dough. For thousands of years, this was the only way to make bread rise. It traveled with the Roman legions, sustained European peasants through the Middle Ages, and became iconic during the California Gold Rush of 1849. Miners carried their starters in pouches close to their bodie...